26 September 2013

I have so much to post and no time to do it at the moment. Despite not doing anything that generates any sort of income I have never been more productive or happily busy. Between Roan's extremely full activity and school schedule, the new Extreme Kids space, various housekeeping tasks, and a bunch of creative projects I haven't had time to blog.

I keep reminding myself of the immortal words of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "tis better to have lived and not blogged than never to have lived at all"

So to whet your appetite (and keep you checking the blog) here are some coming attractions:

- Photos of the new Lula room at Extreme Kids- Portraits of the extremely photogenic Philly cousins- A local futbol game in Prague- Roan guts a fishStay tuned. Cheers!

20 September 2013

This summer we were lucky enough, timing wise, to be in Scotland at the same time as Sam's old mate Charlie, his wife and two little boys, who normally live in Brazil. Sam grew up with Charlie and Charlie's cousin Will who formed a kind of trifecta of mischief. They spent a lot of time exploring Charlie's ancestral home, which has been in his family since the 1730's. It is called Blair Adam, but as kids Sam referred to it as "the house with the big keys" and here's why:

Actual and current front door key. DO NOT lose this key!

I am still utterly enchanted by Blair Adam and what it must have been like to grow up there. It couldn't be more different than a rent stabilized walk up on 82nd and 3rd Ave in New York. It must have been a wonderland of curiosity for the kids, but for the adults I know it was a hell of a lot of work just to keep it from falling down.

Guest room

I was a little terrified to take Roan there because everything is priceless and irreplaceable. On the day we visited another friend, Nicola, was visiting with her two little ones which made 5 kids to keep from breaking anything. Charlie's whole family is remarkably laid back about mixing children with historic artifacts, but I was still eager to get the kids out of the house.

Lunch with the relatives. Note the table of china directly behind the kids.

Stone describing how Charlie and Will's ancestors built the walled garden

Charlie's son Oliver, a few months older than Roan, seemed to know his way around the garden (which is HUGE) and knew all of it's secrets. He gave us a tour.

Who the hell tagged that stone??

Nature takes over

Not sure why this door is here

The wall itself is almost as majestic as the garden

Charlie, Oliver, Sam and Roan

I don't know how big the garden is but it is easily the size of a city block, maybe two. It has an enormous variety of trees including some actual giant Redwoods!! While old houses are fairly common in Scotland, it is incredibly rare to find old growth forests since they were all completely wiped out during the Highland clearances.

It is so much garden that the family has these people called woofers (really WWOOF), who volunteer to grow organic produce on the land in exchange for food, housing and experience. They have done an amazing job.

We spent at least an hour exploring and then it started to rain more heavily so we headed back for tea, biscuits, and naps. Thank you to Blair Adam for a nice dose of Scottish history.

10 September 2013

A few months ago the Coop School held a Moth night which, if you've never heard of the Moth, is a live night of storytelling. The Coop School night was nearly identical to The Moth shows except it was organized and generously hosted in the home of the remarkable Bliss Broyard and attended by Coop School parents.

There were five of us telling stories that night and all of the stories were amazing and compelling. The whole vibe was so wholeheartedly supportive and generous, which frankly, having spent so much time clawing my way through the very fickle and catty world of magazine publishing, felt incredible.

My high school friend and fellow speech and debate nerd Katharine Heller coached me beforehand and now she has put the audio recording of my piece from that night on her podcast, Tell the Bartender.

04 September 2013

Prague is a sort of amalgam of romantic European and harsh communist architecture that I found fascinating. I have also never been anywhere else where people were so indifferent about being photographed. Partly I think they are quite used to tourists, but I also think it's part of the Czech culture, given their endlessly turbulent history, to just go about their business as change happens around them.

WHO AM I?

My name is Micaela. I am a New York City girl, born and raised. My husband Sam and I live in Brooklyn. We have talents, interests, and lives outside of our kids but this blog is mostly about our kids Roan and Lula and my life as a mom. They were born June 11, 2010. Lula Neave died on December 4, 2011. My life in between those two days and beyond are depicted and expressed in the images and words of this blog.